International Students and Scholars

Welcome International Students and Scholars

IPO is open during the summer (Main Office Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm EST). Appointments are recommended, contact an advisor directly for an appointment time.

NOTE: Important information regarding US visa appointments. Visit this site for more information.

Beginning May 29, 2015, an F-2 dependent may study part-time in any certified program at an SEVP-certified school. Previously, an adult dependent who studied in an academic or vocational curriculum (English as a second language or a graduate level course, for example) might have been noncompliant with the conditions of nonimmigrant status. Now, an F-2 dependent may engage in a course of study that does not amount to what regulations define as full-time for an F-1 student. An F-2 dependent is a spouse or minor child of the F-1 student who meets all of the following conditions:

·Has been issued a Form I-20, “Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status”

·Has an F-2 visa

·Has been admitted to the United States in F-2 status or applied for and been granted a change of status to F-2 in the United States by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

An F-2 dependent who engages in post-secondary part-time study must attend an SEVP-certified school, and the program of study must be in the school’s SEVP certification. Online classes alone will always be less than a full course of study for F-1 students, and so are permissible for an F-2 dependent at the postsecondary level. An F-2 dependent may enroll in a combination of online and in-person classes that is less than a full course of study as defined by regulations governing F-1 students.

For additional information please contact the IPO.

Executive Actions on Immigration: "On November 20, 2014, the President announced a series of executive actions to crack down on illegal immigration at the border, prioritize deporting felons not families, and require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation." Read more here.

Department of State on new Chinese visa policy: Besides the significant convenience of not needing to schedule multiple US consular appointments whenever traveling home after a 12-month visa expires, this new policy will now minimize and substantially reduce the numerous delays Chinese students and scholars encounter as a result of random background security checks during the U.S. consular process (also known as “administrative processing”). Read more here.